Six by Nico Birmingham
SIX APPEAL?
The arrival in Birmingham of Six by Nico has been preceded by a relentless marketing assault across my social media. I was either to succumb to its pushy charm or it was going to require a cease-and-desist letter.
The seduction started with the teasing wink of a six-course tasting menu for £39, before my head was fully turned by the allure of a menu ‘inspired by chip shop staples’. Then, I spot the accompanying wine flight is a bewitching £30 and with a rare, empty weekend that falls at the start of ‘the season to be jolly’ we’re on our first date.
First signs are good, with the bar area undoubtedly empathetic to the Victorian grandeur of its location on Colmore Row, although its claim that the ‘interior design pays tribute to Birmingham’s industrial heritage’ is esoteric at best.
Six by Nico Birmingham - Main Dining Room
Even when shown to our table, that claim fails to gain any further foothold; instead, bringing to mind the feel of a trendy 4* hotel dining room that would easily transition for the breakfast service. It’s a large space with 72 covers, but I guess at this price point they need to churn the numbers, although it’s too big a space for the quality of the speakers playing a gratingly tinny house music soundtrack.
Chips & Cheese - Parmesan Espuma / Curry Oil & Emulsion / Crisp Potato Terrine
‘Chips and cheese’ open proceedings and it’s a two-parter. I start with a bowl of a wonderfully velvety espuma with just a suggestion of Parmesan and topped with fried breadcrumbs for crunch. Part two is a melt-in-the-middle ‘chip-mimicking’ crisp potato terrine, under a blizzard of Parmesan with accompanying ‘curry sauce’—and I’d happily walk home right now, eating a huge cone of these, despite it being minus 4°c outside.
Chips & Cheese - Parmesan Espuma / Curry Oil & Emulsion / Crisp Potato Terrine
‘Scampi’ turns out to be a potato and salt cod fishcake on a bed of peas in a beurre blanc sauce along with a pea emulsion and an eggy gribiche, all sitting in a pool of dill oil. It’s the kind of dish I’d possibly comment favourably about if we were at a large wedding reception, but even though it’s just the second dish, here it already feels like it’s making up the numbers.
‘Scampi’ - Brandade / Dill Emulsion / Gribiche / Peas / Beurre Blanc, served with Prosecco DOC Cavalieri Reali Extra Dry Spumante
‘Steak Pie’ is a chunk of textbook, melt-in-the-mouth 24 hour cooked beef shin, sitting in its cooking juices and topped with fried shallot. On the other side of the plate, sitting under a slice of raw mushroom (yes, really), burnt onion ketchup adds delicious, deep sweetness into the mix, although the mushroom duxelle adds nothing of any note and I’m starting to question if there’s enough of a spark between us.
‘Steak Pie’ - 24 Hour Beef Shin / Burnt Onion Ketchup / Mushroom Duxelle / ‘Meaty Salsa’ served with Bordeaux Rouge AOC, Xavier Jaubert – Bordeaux, France
But the next dish—’Fish Supper’—is easily the best so far, suggesting a real chippy feel whilst delivering an elevated twist. It’s a perfectly cooked, firm-on-the-bite, piece of coley, topped with a crunchy battered beer crumble AKA the batter scraps, lifted further by vinegar pumped mussels, the softened aniseed of confit fennel and the salty bite of samphire. I’m fully at the sea shore, now starting to think that maybe we might be onto something special.
‘Fish Supper’ - Scrabster Coley / Pickled Mussels / Confit Fennel / Samphire / Beer Emulsion, served with Palomino, Campante 89, Bodegas Campante – Ribeiro, Spain
But all that illusion disappears with the next dish, that starts with the ‘theatre’ of the waiter removing the smoke-filled glass dome to reveal ‘Smoked Sausage’. In reality it’s a trio of pork that’s been sat under the hot lamp for so long it looks like the ham hock croquette has started to decompose, as well as pork belly that’s simply soggy with crackling that offers no crunch and a slither of black pudding sausage roll that, whilst easily the best of the three, fails to offer any real appeal and my attraction is now fully on the wane.
‘Deep Fried Mars Bar’ - Chocolate Pave / Irn Bru Sorbet / Deep Fried Mars Bar, served with L’Arcano Primitivo Dolce IGT, Tenuta Giustini
Unfortunately, there is more crunch fail—this time on an epic scale—from the deep fried Mars Bar that should be the eponymous hero of the dish, but the undercooked batter has an unpleasant cloying texture. Whilst that’s a major disappointment, the rest of the dish is a sticky, sweet, crunchy and chocolatey dream and then there’s the smile inducing Irn Bru sorbet.
Alongside what’s been a very hit and miss meal, there has also been an Argos-sized catalogue of errors, although I’m willing to attribute those to first weekend teething problems (and that did include leaving a negroni off the bill, so I’m happy to call it quits). Some also provided humour—and it has been a far more humourous occasion than we were expecting—including an announcement by the waiter that ‘this is your fourth glass of wine’, well, thanks for pointing it out! Only for him to then read off the menu card the details of the true glass number four—a Pinot Noir—and not the warm, white Palomino that it is… and only my third, as it happens!
On the subject of the wine flight, at £30 it’s patchy, much like the food. Our total bill for two (one wine flight only) with a non-alcoholic white and large sparking water plus service charge (£14.76) is £134.86.
The idea that their tasting menus change every six weeks to a completely new ‘theme, destination or concept’ initially struck me as crazy. But, finding out this is their 14th restaurant—all in prime city centre locations—it’s easy to see the logic of grooming a regularly returning customer base with the belief—fanned by social media—that it’s ‘affordable fine dining’. But as with most things in life, you get what you pay for.
I found ‘The ‘Chippie’ concept to be largely tenuous, although that may have fallen victim to the close scrutiny brought on by the standard of the food itself. Ultimately, I can only conclude that we’re just not compatible… there simply wasn’t enough six appeal.
6/10
81 Colmore Row, Birmingham, B3 2BA
